The present invention relates generally to stabilizers and more particularly to an improved stabilizer for use with vehicle steering mechanisms which is capable of being easily and inexpensively repaired.
Steering stabilizers are well known in the prior art and typically incorporate spring mechanisms which include fabricated rings welded to certain structural components of the device. Fabricated rings breaking loose from their welds due to the stresses and strains of the normal operation of the device have caused serious operational shortcomings and reduced the life expectancies of such prior art steering stabilizers. Prior art steering stabilizers in which the fabricated rings broke loose were typically discarded because dismantling the prior art unit in order to replace the fabricated parts and reweld them as needed was an inordinately time consuming process involving high labor cost.
Many prior art stabilizers have included threaded tension adjusters. Such stabilizers are generally unduly complicated as well as awkward and, thus, are not practical for use in modern automotive vehicles. In addition, such prior art stabilizers typically do not have a positive center point or a hydraulic damper to restrain excessive movement of the stabilizer. It is desirable that a stabilizer have a positive center point to which it is biased so that the stabilizer will tend to assume a desired neutral position when there are no external forces acting on it. This neutral position allows the vehicle steering system to resume or revert to a straight-ahead position when steering forces have been dissipated or removed.
One prior art device which does give a straight-ahead steering position by having a positive central bias is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,473 to Sexton. The Sexton device has a hydraulic damper and additionally includes two springs which are disposed in an opposing relationship and are of equal strength in order to allow the device to have a positive bias. The Sexton device has a central ring in between and abutting these two coil springs which receives the forces exerted by the springs. This ring is consequently susceptible to breakage because it is subjected to high forces during operation of the stabilizer. Since this ring is fixed within the device, repair of the stabilizer when breakage of the ring occurs would necessitate having to detach the ring from its mounting point on the device and to reattach a new ring by welding it to a structural part of the stabilizer. Additionally, since the ring is centrally located within the device, complete disassembly of the device is required in order to obtain sufficient access to the ring to perform the necessary repairs. Since the Sexton device is somewhat complicated, such repairs would be a labor intensive endeavor. For this reason, the Sexton device and other similar prior art devices are simply discarded when the ring breaks or when the hydraulic components malfunction or wear out. Consequently, a major disadvantage with such prior art devices is that they have to be discarded in the event of a breakage or other malfunction of the device. Since such prior art devices are generally somewhat complex and therefore expensive to replace, incorporation of such prior art devices in modern vehicle steering systems is unduly expensive when prorated over the lifetime of the vehicle.
A steering stabilizer is thus needed that is relatively simple in construction and thus inexpensive to manufacture. A steering stabilizer is also needed that is easily repairable and has fewer fabricated and welded parts at stress locations to reduce the likelihood that the stabilizer will sustain breakage of component parts resulting in stabilizer malfunction.